This invention relates to applicators for installing connectors onto the ends of cables, the connectors being of the type which are being widely adopted in the telephone industry.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,998,514 discloses an electrical connector which is adapted to be mounted on the end of a cable containing a limited number of conductors, four or six, and which is dimensioned to be mated with a complementary receptacle to connect the conductors of the cable with terminals in a receptacle. Connectors of the type described in the above identified patent are coming into common usage in the telephone industry and it is foreseen that they will be used in vast numbers.
While the general principles of these "Modular Telephone Connectors" are standard, there are minor differences between closely related types of connectors being used. For example, some connectors are being produced as two-piece items which are assembled to each other when the connector is installed on the cable. Others are being produced with one-piece connector housings, however, all are being produced as loose-piece items rather than in strip form.
Connectors of the type described in the above identified patent comprise a housing having a cable-receiving cavity which receives an end of the cable on which the connector is being installed. Upon installation, portions of the top wall of the connector housing are inwardly deformed so that they clamp portions of the cable and provide a strain relief and a mechanical coupling between the connector and the cable. The electrical contacts are driven through the connector housing and pierce conductors of the cable to establish the electrical contacts. Portions of these electrical contact members project beyond one surface of the housing and are contacted by contact members in a receptacle into which the connector is inserted.
It is common practice at present to install connectors, of the type described above, on the ends of cables by inserting the cable end into the connector and first inwardly deforming the housing to clamp the housing to the cable. The connector with the cable clamped thereto is then moved to a second insertion station and the contact members are driven through the connector housings and into electrical contact with the conductors. This assembly method, requiring as it does, two separate operations is relatively slow and inefficient. Furthermore, and as noted above, these telephone connectors are being manufactured as loose-piece items, a circumstance which further restricts the production rates which can be achieved in installing connectors on cables.
The instant invention is directed to the achievement of an applicator which is capable of installing connectors in strip form on the ends of cables and which additionally is capable of carrying out all of the required operations (deformation of the connector housing onto an inserted cable, insertion of the contact members into the housing, and severing of the connector from the strip) in a single operation and during the single stroke of a bench press or the like.
In accordance with the principles of the invention, the applicator has first and second rams which are coupled to each other by a compressible coupling means. The tooling for inwardly deforming the connector housing is mounted on the first ram and the insertion tooling for driving the contact members into the housing is mounted on the second ram. The arrangement is such that the two rams initially move in unison towards a connector disposed in the application zone of the apparatus and the deforming tool first inwardly deforms the connector housing so that the housing clamps the cable. Thereafter, the first ram dwells and the second ram continues to move towards the connector with accompanying compression of the coupling means to drive the contact members into engagement with the conductors in the cable. The applicator is also provided with feeding means for feeding a strip of connectors to the application zone, and severing means which severs the leading connector of this strip from the carrier strip at the time of installation.
The two rams also have mounted thereon aligning means which align the connector precisely with the applicator tooling prior to deformation of the housing and insertion of the contact members.
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide an improved applicator for installing connectors in strip form on the ends of cables. A further object is to provide an applicator having improved strip feeding means and aligning means for aligning the leading connector of a strip with the tooling of the applicator which installs the connector on the cable. A further object is to provide an applicator having improved ram means on which connector deforming and contact insertion tooling is provided, the arrangement of the rams being such that the connector is first mechanically clamped to a cable and the contact members are thereafter driven through the connector to establish electrical contact with the connectors of the cable.